Couple Score In Battle Against Dot

July 25, 1985|By Gina Thomas of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — A St. Cloud couple has won the second round of a court fight that contends the Florida Department of Transportation and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co. can be held responsible for a 1979 automobile collision in which the woman lost both legs.

Ron Brooks, DOT attorney, called the decision a dangerous one that ''goes far beyond what's ever been done before.''

No trial date has been set for Thomas and Cleopatra Anglin, who sued both agencies in 1981. However, the couple may not get their case before a jury for years, if at all. Attorneys for the DOT and railroad company say they will appeal the July 2 ruling by the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. Mrs. Anglin, who goes by Gail, was pinned between the pickup truck she and her husband were driving and a car that hit the truck from behind on U.S. Highway 27 near Lake Hamilton. Her legs were amputated after the Labor Day 1979 crash.

Mrs. Anglin said earlier this week she was pleased with the ruling. However, she declined to discuss the suit until it is resolved. So did her attorney, Karl Koepke of Orlando.

In the suit filed in Leon Circuit Court, the Anglins said the DOT and railroad were at fault for the accident. On that day the couple's truck had stalled a half-mile north of Lake Hamilton on U.S. Highway 27 after it hit a pool of water 6 inches deep.

Hurricane David brought a steady rain and water covered the roadway. After the truck stalled, the Anglins pushed it to the side of the road. They failed to start the truck, so they pushed it onto the road and tried to turn the engine over by ''popping the clutch.''

Edward DuBose of Haines City drove by and turned around to help the Anglins. He failed to stop in time and collided into the back of the truck.

DuBose settled with the couple for $10,000. However, the suit against the DOT and railroad company was dismissed in Leon Circuit Court. The Anglins appealed.

The appeal panel ruled that the puddle of water ''set into motion'' the events that occurred that night.

Brooks said the case centers on the legal issue of ''proximate cause,'' that the accident is a direct result of the water on the road. Brooks argued that connection was too tenuous, and that the appellate panel's 2 to 1 ruling in favor of the Anglins is in error.

According to the court, ''anybody can be held liable for any unforseen event,'' Brooks said. He added that two of the three appeal judges did not consider that the Anglins had moved their car back onto the road, breaking the chain of events that could make the railroad and DOT liable.

He said he and attorneys for the railroad company have asked for a rehearing with all of the appellate judges in the First District. If that fails, he said they will ask for review by the Florida Supreme Court.